Saving money and getting healthy by eating from the garden

Coming Back After A Break…

It rained quite a bit while we were gone on vacation this past week. It is always interesting to see the garden come alive after a good soaking.

Here’s what I came home to…

The tomato plants are terribly ugly at the bottom. Last year, I pruned the plants, trying to keep them healthy longer. This year, I did not have the time or energy to prune. They are still producing just as much, they just have a lot of ugly, black leaves at the bottom. The tops are beautiful though, and we are still harvesting tomatoes! All of the potatoes we missed are sprouting. We’ll have to dig those up this week.

The uncovered brassicas are basically dead but will likely bounce back if I cover them soon. Right next to them, the covered brassicas are flourishing and need to be planted this.week. Now to figure out where…

We have one stinkin’ chicken that gets out no matter how many times we put her back in the run. So…she has dug up all of the greens I planted last week and most of the carrots and beets 😦 I am so sick of that bird! 😛

The raspberries, as the tomatoes, are producing really well, though the plants are ugly-looking. We need to harvest strawberries as well.

The fall beans and peas are sizing up well. The bugs are leaving the beans alone for the most part and the peas are starting to flower 🙂The sweet potatoes have bounced back for the most part. Hopefully, they will have another month or so to bulk up before we harvest them.

Another part of the garden that enjoyed all of the wonderful rain – the weed seeds. We’ll have to take care of that this week.

Oh, and the kids are bugging me to start school with them this week. 😛 Welcome back from vacation – now, hit the ground RUNNING!!!!

Two other random pics I wanted to share: we have a moon and stars watermelon sizing up.We have yet to harvest one of these because of the critters. I saw something scratched at this one so I put a fence loosely around it. It is also right next to the electric fence.

The other pic is of a baby butternut squash. I have a bear of a time each year with squash bugs so we do not harvest many squashes (summer or winter) at all. It is always exciting to see this 🙂What are you harvesting? What are you planting for the fall? Check out what other gardeners are doing at Daphne’s Dandelions.